North Belfast MLA William Humphrey said plans to force victims to prove a minimum of 12 people or an unlawful organisation were involved in the incident will make it “impossible” to claim.

He claimed it would incentivise sectarian attacks because the perpetrators would know the huge difficulty in securing compensation.

Mr Humphrey added “the changes would also massively increase the cost of insurance and for the vast majority of halls this would become unaffordable”.

A Justice Department spokesman said: “The proposals seek to strike a balance between the extent of liability which should continue to be placed on the taxpayer and an individual’s or organisation’s responsibility to insure their property adequately.”